In 1887, at a mourning gathering dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the tragic event, it was decided to erect a monument at the site of Alexander Pushkin’s last duel. However, these plans were never executed. At the beginning of 1890, the neglected territory that included the place of the duel was transferred to the horse racing society. The magazine “Zhivopisnoye Obozreniye” reported that the “Pushkin corner” was about to be turned into a racetrack. Fans of horse racing paid for the making and installation of a brick pedestal with a plaster bust of the poet, made by an unknown sculptor, and the inscription “Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, — the place of his duel, held on January 27, 1837,” which survived until 1924.

In the early 1930s, it became necessary to somehow protect the place of A. S. Pushkin’s duel, which was in danger due to the planned construction of a vegetable storage facility here. At the initiative of the Pushkin Society and the Architectural and Planning Department of the Leningrad City Council, a monument – a broken granite and marble column – was made upon the project of E. I. Katonin. In 1936, the newspaper “Krestyanskaya Pravda” reported that the place of Pushkin’s duel was turned into a “well-maintained area with greenery, flower beds and beautiful footpaths.”

In 1937, on the occasion of centenary of Pushkin’s death, which was widely commemorated in the USSR, the column was replaced with a granite obelisk designed by architects A. I. Lapirov and E. I. Katonin, with a bronze bas-relief of the poet, made by sculptor M. G. Manizer.

In the early 2000s, the garden square surrounding the place of the duel was again threatened with extinction: this time it was planned to build a gas station here. Only under the pressure of the general public, concerned about the imminent deformation of the appearance of the historical place, these plans were not implemented.